Speculating from an Oilers fan’s perspective, BLH comments on the latest Edmonton Oilers news as well as the freshest NHL speculation featuring players such as Kris Letang, Ilya Kovalchuk, Anthony Duclair, and many more!
Steve Tambellini firing Tom Renney after the 2011-12 season. Oilers were starting to turn a corner by every metric, just needed another defenseman or two. Krueger/Eakins took the wheels off that thing. https://t.co/4Q6kX3Z39G
— Alex Thomas (@AlexThomasHWP) October 28, 2020
The News and Rumors
- Josh Yohe (The Athletic): A February 1st start seems more likely than January 1st for the 2020-21 NHL Season.
- There is about a 90% chance that defenceman Kris Letang is on the Pittsburgh Penguins roster for the entire 2020-21 season.
BLH’s Thoughts: My gut feeling tells me that Letang will be in Pittsburgh through to next season and in the last year of his contract will be traded. I don’t know many teams that are in the position to trade for a 33 year old defenceman who makes over $7M/yr.
- Pierre LeBrun (TSN): UFA Ilya Kovalchuk loved his time in Montreal and is looking for another chance in the NHL.
BLH’s Thoughts: Edmonton might have a spot on LW available and they were after him in prior seasons. I think as recent as the year before last.
Ever since he took the NJ Devils to the Cup final back in 2011-12 I’ve really liked Kovalchuk. Before that he was a selfish, one-way player. That season though, that was his “Yzerman” year. He became a true leader during that run to the Cup. I don’t know what happened because he played just over 30 more games in New Jersey and then booked it for Russia.
- DJ Bean (NBC Sports Boston): Jake DeBrusk is one of the Bruins best trade chips if they are serious about “making a splash”.
BLH’s Thoughts: Why in the world does Boston feel the need to “make a splash”? Why do they want to move on from Jake DeBrusk? He’s a good young player, he scores goals, works his ass off, is a good kid by all accounts… What’s the deal there?
- Adam Gretz (NBC Sports): UFA Anthony Duclair could opt to sign a short-term deal with a contender like the Dallas Stars.
- The Columbus Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins are some potential landing spots for UFA forward Mikael Granlund.
- The Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators are some potential landing spots for forward Carl Soderberg.
BLH’s Thoughts: If I was a rebuilding team, I’d be signing solid players to one-year deals who I could pilfer off at the trade deadline for draft picks… Then use said draft picks to upgrade my club elsewhere be that via the draft or trade.
- Lyle Richardson (Spector’s Hockey): The Detroit Red Wings could benefit from adding a veteran like Travis Hamonic or Sami Vatanen to their blueline.
BLH’s Thoughts: I’d lean more Hamonic if a club is looking for high-character players to help mentor. Richardson makes a good point there with the Red Wings having Moritz Seider coming on. They’ll need a solid vet to help bring him along.
- JJ Regan (NBC Sports Washington): The Washington Capitals could trade defenceman Nick Jensen to acquire a 13th forward.
BLH’s Thoughts: Okay…
The Oilers Talk
Lots of chatter as to how the Edmonton Oilers should pay tribute to Joey Moss these past few days. Some say they should rename the locker room, others say that the community arena should be called the Joey Moss Community Arena from now on. I’ve read he should be immortalized with a statue or his name should be raised to the rafters alongside all the other Oilers legends from years passed. Would there be an appetite for a wall of honour named after him?
There are a number of ways that the Edmonton Oilers, EE football club, the city of Edmonton, the province of Alberta, and the National Hockey League could go about honouring Joey and they all should.
It’s been said that Joey was an “over the top” kind of guy and I think it’s safe to say that his tribute should also be “over the top”. So I’d like to see a statue of Joey alongside Wayne’s in front of Rogers Place and rename the community rink too. Raise his name to the rafters alongside Gretz, Mess, and Coff. When the Oilers are playing a meaningful hockey game, let’s get Joey to come out and sing the anthem with the crowd.
Memories fade over time. Statues decay and get moved or taken down eventually. Rinks get demolished… So it’s incumbent upon the highest powers to do something with this tribute that will prevent the name of Joey Moss from ever being forgotten.
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